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My School is Already Affiliated: What Next?

The AHLA Foundation relies on schools to promote its scholarship opportunities to their hospitality students. We are looking to partner with schools who encourage their students to apply and have started to track the number of scholarship recipients from each school. School participation played a key role in the review of schools selected to participate in the Foundation's school-nominated programs.

To help you promote the Foundation's more than $1 million in scholarships to your hospitality students, here is our AHLA Foundation Scholarship Flyer. Please email this pdf directly to your students, post on social media, and share with your faculty and financial aid offices.

Best Practices for Scholarship Promotion

We polled the top 10 schools with the highest number of student applicants for this year and got the following best practices for scholarship promotion:

Email AHLA Foundation flyer to all hospitality students.

Include AHLA Foundation info and flyer in department’s FaceBook and Twitter posts

Post AHLA Foundation flyers in building and classrooms.

Electronically post flyers on electronic platforms.

Announce the scholarships in all hospitality related classes.

Remind students weekly in department newsletter and include AHLA Foundation flyer.

Have students start the application in class.

Get former recipients to speak for a few minutes in classes.

What Does It Mean to be Affiliated?

Affiliated schools receive funding through our largest scholarship program, the Annual Scholarship Grant Program, which is a one of nine offered by the AHLA Foundation. This year, 63 universities and colleges are participating in the program and will be awarded more than $570,000 from over a dozen named scholarship funds. In total, the Foundation is budgeted to disburse over $1 million through all its scholarship programs.

Students do not have to be attending an affiliate school to apply for the AHLA Foundation's six open scholarship competitions.

Affiliate schools:

agree to co-administer our scholarships with us,

are allocated scholarship grants annually,

select student recipients to receive those funds, based on a set of minimum eligibility criteria set by AHLA Foundation Committee (see Student Minimum Eligibility Criteria below),

decide award amounts for each nominated student, based on parameters also set by the AHLA Foundation Scholarship Committee (see Award Amount Guidelines below),

assist in collecting transcript documentation (official or unofficial) from each AHLA Foundation scholarship recipient at the end of the spring semester/quarter, and

must re-apply for consideration to stay in the Annual Scholarship Grant Program every three to five years (see school application details below).

Important Reminders and Deadline Dates

The deadline to apply for all scholarships is February 15th and we need your help in getting the word out and encouraging your students to apply now!

November

Affiliated schools will be mailed a scholarship package, which will includeyour school's allocation amount for the upcoming 2020-21 academic year and student nomination forms.

December 15th

School Confirmation Form, which confirms that your school received the allocation letter and will participate in 2020 by nominating qualified students is due by this date.

February 15th

School Nomination Form, which lists student nominees and amounts is due. Additionally, schools must ensure that the student nominees have completed an AHLA Foundation scholarship application. Students completing the online applications will be provided a confirmation number, which is required on the nomination form.

Affiliated schools will receive a scholarship package in December 2019, which will include your school's allocation amount for the upcoming 2020 academic year and student nomination forms. Schools are required to submit student nominations and ensure the student nominees have completed the online scholarship application. Be sure to tell your nominees that they are being nominated for an Annual Scholarship Grant so they can indicate that on their online application.The 2020 deadline date to submit the Nomination Form will be February 15th. Failure to do so will result in the forfeit of the school's scholarship allocation for the year and may jeopardize continued participation in the program.

How to Select Student Nominees

Student Minimum Eligibility Criteria

Be enrolled as a full-time undergraduate (minimum of 12 hours) in a hospitality related degree-granting program; with the exception of Rama Scholarship nominees who can be enrolled part-time (at least 9 hours) and a graduate student.

Maintain full-time status through the fall and spring semesters to receive the scholarship checks. Students not planning to take 12 hours should not be nominated. Students graduating in December can be nominated if the award amount falls within the amount guidelines (see guidelines below.)

Have a minimum overall GPA of 3.0 (except for the Conrad N. Hilton awards, which require a minimum overall GPA of 2.0 and Rama which has a 2.5 overall GPA minimum). Consult your allocation letter to see which funds were received.

Four-year schools can nominate rising sophomores who will have junior standing for the upcoming fall semester and two-year schools can nominate rising freshmen who will have sophomore standing.

Be a U.S. citizen or permanent U.S. resident.

Award Amount Guidelines

The schools determine the individual award amounts for each student within the following guidelines:

December Graduates (Fall Semester Only)

Four-Year $1,000 - $3,000

Two-Year $250 - $1,500

Academic Year (Fall and Spring)

Four-Year $2,000 - $6,000

Two-Year $500 - $3,000

If you have any questions regarding the nomination process, please contact Michele Anderson, Foundation Program Manager, at manderson@ahlef.org or (202) 289-3138.

School Application – Reviewed Every 3 to 5 Years

Approximately every three to five years, the AHLA Foundation's Scholarship Committee reviews all existing schools participating in the Annual Scholarship Grant Program and accepts applications from new schools wishing to join. This year the committee completed the review process and approved 63 schools to participate in the Annual Scholarship Grant Program. The committee reviewed on the following information:

Degrees offered

Number of students enrolled and graduating from the program

Program faculty

Student placement in the industry

Hotels recruiting on campus

Program accreditation

The committee also considered past participation in AHLA Foundation's scholarship programs and school compliance/partnership, which looked at the total number of students from each school that applied for AHLEF’s self-nominated scholarships. In addition, emphasis was placed on the number of graduates and placement in the industry. Since affiliation and participation in the Annual Scholarship Grant Program requires the schools to co-administer the scholarships with the Foundation, be sure that your school is willing to do its part.

Promote the AHLA Foundation's Self-Nominated Scholarships

As an affiliate school, you are expected to promote all AHLA Foundation scholarships to your students, as we are tracking how many students are applying from each school. In addition to Foundation school-nominated scholarships, six self-nominated scholarships are administered. Next year, more than $600,000 is budgeted for these programs:

We ask our affiliates to email their hospitality management students regarding AHLA Foundation scholarship opportunities. Additionally, please place our flyer on any bulletin boards or scholarship resources within your college or university.

The deadline date for 2020 scholarships will be February 15, 2020, and we need your help in getting the word out!